Watched it last night. Not as good as the 1st (although more grind-housey), but still had entertainment value. SPOILERS: Biker bitch gang, Mexican midget wrestlers, Grandma catapult, a very gooey dissection, a baby gets eaten, cat rape etc.

Saw JACK BROOKS MONSTER SLAYER last night. Gotta say I enjoyed it for what it was. I was surprised how good it looked for such a low budget. The lead guy is like the Canadian Ryan Reynolds, or rather the Even More Canadian Ryan Reynolds. The creature effects are old school rubber monsters, which I like. Devin's review of it pretty much nails it, it's kind of repetitive until the third act. You get a bunch of scenes which serve the same purpose, and even a flashback story that more or less tells you what you already know. Robert Englund turns in a fun slapsticky performance, and the movie has a good-natured vibe that wins you over. The third act is great. Worth a rental.

Agreed, but I wish the lead wasn't so (how can I put it politely)... green? Everything with Englund and/or a monster was gold.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquafresh

Needn't bother with NEVER CRY WEREWOLF though I'm sure nobody but me would anyway.

I did. I have a review on the way. Not a great flick by any means, but slightly better than average amongst DTV werewolf releases.

Hey, I have FEAST II as well! Between the three of us we form some sort of unholy triumvirate of hardcore horror chewers.

I am watching an insane amount of horror movies this month. I always watch a lot, but this is fucking ridiculous, I should have my head examined. I just got back from a double feature screening of THE DEADLY SPAWN (awesome) and the 80's remake of THE BLOB (fun).

On top of all the screenings and DVDs I am reading THE SPACE VAMPIRES and WORLD WAR Z. I've got CABAL and CUJO on deck. I am fucking retarded.

FEAST II is an insane film. In a lot of ways it's trying to hard, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained. The Judah Friedlander cameo made it all worthwhile. And the baby sequence, that was gold.

Dance of the Dead is fun. It does have a similar vibe to ROTLD or maybe Night of the Creeps, though it isn't as good as those. Still, a fun zombie comedy.

I just watched Trackman and Room 205, neither is bad but both are underwhelming. Last House in the Woods is, I think, pretty awful. I'm baffled that it's gotten some good reviews on horror sites. I think people go easy on it because it's Italian and going for a 70's/80's vibe. But it's not good. I'm still interested in the rest of these titles, although my expectations are low and I have a feeling Dance of the Dead will end up being the best of the bunch.

I'm also curious. The trailer looks intense, but the Netflix user reviews (not a great barometer) tore it apart. Apparently, the presentation (audio and video) and shaky cam leave much to be desired, and it just kinda ends (to be continued...), but it's a small time investment (70+ min).

Nobody saw AUTOMATON TRANSFUSION? Howbout THE ZOMBIE DIARIES? How does it compare to DIARY OF THE DEAD (and is that one worth checking out?)?

Howbout THE ZOMBIE DIARIES? How does it compare to DIARY OF THE DEAD (and is that one worth checking out?)?

It's not all that bad. There are some great moments of verisimilitude that hit the same dread-filled chords that the best of the BBC faux-docs like SMALLPOX and DIRTY WAR did.

They got the "shambles" down pretty well, opting for the traditional slow lurking dead thankfully. The fx work is pretty good and goes probably much farther for them thanks to the shaky, improperly aimed camera technique.

Maybe not surprisingly, it also suffers and benefits from the same inherent issues as with any "Diary" film. The acting has moments of sheer amateurism, and while in the best of these types of narratives that can be offset by the idea that these are supposed to be your average garden-variety folks, in this film it breaks the quality chain.

My largest gripes with ZOMBIE DIARIES actually cover almost all the "diary" types. Distinct lack of older folks. Too often, these films are populated with almost exclusively under 30 types. I get that in a world collapsing under a zombie apocalypse, the older people might not stand that great a chance, but the insistance on having it peopled entirely by fresh out of collegers is pretty damn preposterous. Also, though Romero's DIARY doesn't suffer from this as much(and DIARIES only a small bit), I can't escape the impression that often these zombie flicks are designed to be little more than a gun nut wank fest. From the most amateur tripe on YouTube to the ones that actually get released, too many of these zombie films(and they are legion!) don't have much going on beyond some young twits running around in a SWAT fantasy masturbating high-powered weaponry. Sounds harsh, I know, but frankly that's what I'm getting from alot of these.

(I won't even get into the "Put the fuckin' camera down" disorder that almost all films of this type-DIARY, DIARIES, CLOVERFIELD-suffer from. It's an unfortunately required factor in these particular kinds of films...problem is, they still haven't found a a truly clever way to make it work logically. Romero came close in DIARY with the mansion security camera sequence, something that played perfectly to one of his strengths going all the way back to his commercial days...brilliant editing of static shots.)

Folks were rough on Romero for DIARY and in alot of areas they had valid issues. Despite doing a fine job for it's genre(low-budget undead flick)ZOMBIE DIARIES will help to show just how well Romero actually did with his film.

If you're a zombie film fan particularly, you should check it out. Every unseen dead film diminishes you.

Plot Summary: The Cusp is a serial killer who kills his victims and then brings them back to life...over and over again until they beg to die. Maya is a psychic investigator who gained her powers after a 1 year coma after she was the Cusp's first victim. Now the Cusp Killer is back and Maya has little time to do what she has never done before, go into the mind of a killer unprotected, and save his latest victim.

That TRAILER PARK TERROR banner on the site has me curious. Anybody have an insight? Anyone catch it at a festival?

Way better than something named Trailer Park of Terror has a right to be.

It's serious flaw is that it's a bit schizophrenic,veering wildly from fairly serious for a lot of it's running time out into comical outlandishness. It also allows some women with fantastic cleavage to somehow keep their tops on throughout the entire film.

That said, it's gory as hell (I watched unrated version of course), has some nice effects (there's some weak CGI outweighed heavily by some great makeup) and a rocking "rockabilly" soundtrack provided often by an undead redneck. Director Steven Goldmann used to direct Metallica Videos, so it's got a sense of style that managed to keep my finger off the FF button the entire running time.

Um... so, according to Netflix, The Poughkeepsie Tapes DVD was released on Tuesday. This morning, it went from "Very Long Wait" to "Infinitely Long Wait, Fucker!", in that it was bumped from my queue and removed from service entirely. Google yields nothing. It doesn't appear to be for sale on Amazon. What happened to this movie?

Plot Summary: The Cusp is a serial killer who kills his victims and then brings them back to life...over and over again until they beg to die. Maya is a psychic investigator who gained her powers after a 1 year coma after she was the Cusp's first victim. Now the Cusp Killer is back and Maya has little time to do what she has never done before, go into the mind of a killer unprotected, and save his latest victim.

Sounds interesting.

Stay away, of all this DTV horror sequels, this by far is the worst.

And Trailer Park of Terror is actually fun. My only complaint it the first half hour or so feels very much like The Devil's Rejects, then suddenly shifts to a slapstickish zombie flick. The make-up and gore is great though.

Despite the title sequence spoiling the set-up, I enjoyed the 1st half for what it was... an urban legend-y EC Comics almost-anthology (without the background, informing the comeuppance). Some fun stuff and creepy imagery (plus I have a deep-seeded clown phobia). By the 3rd tale and climax, I was kinda bored. They introduce the wraparound story late (which I liked, if the summary doesn't already spoil it for you), try to keep the main antagonist hidden (he was obvious), and it becomes all too clear that the movie's shaping up to end like "SAW as the Joker's origin".

Could have been worse, some lingering thoughts kept me from falling to sleep immediately, and the Elisha Cuthbert lookalike was nice eye-candy, but it's not really a lost gem or anything. I can kind of see why it got lost in the release shuffle.

Some bizarre plotholes too (highlight):

Why did the trucker try to run over the boyfriend, if he was indeed NOT the villain in Shelby's segment?

So the entire asylum "set" was underground beneath that shack? And the shrink with the weird accent just shows up there and goes in, escorted by the teen FBI wannabe? She doesn't recognize her infamous patient?

How did Tabitha get out of the back of the truck to drive away at the end?

There's also a recent CHUD DVD review for those that are pickier with their horror (EDIT: Minsky was a bit less forgiving).

I enjoyed FEAST III. Less wacky than part 2 and not quite as kinetic as part 1. The ending is really great however. So out of nowhere that it made me feel good about the whole experience. Definitely worth a rental, but you absolutely need to have seen parts 1 & 2.

I realize I'm probably way late to the party, but I also just caught THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN and aside from the incongruous bits of slow mo and CG gore, really liked the film. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I like it. Not a classic by any means, but a really solid original (meaning non sequel or remake) film. Is there an old thread kicking around about it? I wouldn't mind discussing it more at length.